


(How to) Reconnect

by caerynlae



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Bratva Oliver Queen, POV Thea Queen, Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24943888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caerynlae/pseuds/caerynlae
Summary: She mourned his death, hasn't seen her brother in 5 years, and then he miraculously returned to her. But he is so different now, cold and distant. Dangerous. How can she be scared of her own brother? All she wants, is to understand who he is now and reconnect with him.
Kudos: 19





	(How to) Reconnect

Oliver. Her brother. Alive.

When her mother told her the news, she couldn't believe it at first.

Finally there was a glimmer of hope again. Her brother always knew how to make her feel better.

Thinking back to how overjoyed she'd been, she can't help but snort in derision now.

How naïve she had been.

At the first mention of her brother's name, she'd been that 12 year old kid again that he had left behind.

She should've known better, hadn't she learnt how cruel the world was in the last five years?

She shakes her head and she unceremoniously shoves down the last bite of her perfect breakfast, courtesy of their perfect house staff, which is paid for by a tiny fraction of their numerous billions, fractions of which are frequently used to pretend that they are a perfect family.

A family happier than it had been in years with the Queen heir returned. Supposedly. But no amount of billions can cover up something that is rotten inside.

Her father would never return. Her mother was too busy playing pretend to notice anything amiss. Walter was the only light in this family and sometimes she wishes, for his sake, that he'd made the smart choice and stayed as far away as possible from their broken family.

And don't even get her started on her brother, or whoever it was that was inhabiting her brother's form. A form that is just so drastically different that she has to regularly seek out the mole on his chin to be able to see any similarity. If it wasn't for the DNA test conducted in China already, Thea would swear he was an imposter angling for the Queen empire.

Because there was nothing left of the Ollie she used to know. Gone is the light-hearted boy with the mischievous grin that constantly got into trouble, but always had time to spare for his sister.

Instead he is replaced with a puppet that pretends to smile and act like the old Ollie, but it just comes across as a mockery.

She drinks the last few sips of her coffee, cold and bitter by now. Not even their perfect household staff could keep her coffee hot during all the time it took her to have her breakfast. Conveniently outlasting her mother and step father, both of whom left after a rushed breakfast to begin their very important day of pretending to live the perfect life.

Once they were gone, she didn't hesitate to dismiss her driver for school, she wouldn't be needing him today. She did see his judgmental look, but shrugged it off with practiced ease. She was the one with the money, she called the shots.

Absentmindedly, Thea wipes her utterly clean fingers on the pristine white linen napkins, casually glancing around the room. Raisa, who always serves breakfast, is gone by now, no doubt overseeing tasks carried out elsewhere on the estate.

Left behind is one of the kitchen maids. Her name might've been Natasha, Thea can't quite remember but she does recall hearing her speak Russian with Raisa, so Natasha seems like a safe bet.

Over in the far corner, in one of the excessively opulent sofas, is the third and last person in their small cozy family dining room of just a thousand square feet: John Diggle. Newly hired bodyguard of her brother's. Except that he has to wait in the dining hall for his supposed protégé to return home, after he had to admit to her mother, yet again, that Oliver gave him the slip last night.

Just as she is contemplating what to do on her day off, she hears the front door. Open and close. Then no other sound.

Seems like her brother has returned, because he is the only one who can move so silently. But not even he can prevent their front door from making a creaking noise, burdened by the centuries. Or maybe by the Queen billions, who knows.

A second later the object of her thoughts appears in the doorway.

“Diggle, my friend, I made it back safe and sound as you can see. I will get some sleep now, so feel free to head home.”

He grins that mockery of his old smile at the bodyguard and Thea just wants to get up and slap it off his face.

But Diggle doesn't seem to see anything amiss, because he simply nods his head with a quiet “Yes, sir.”

Thea gives him a couple of mental kudo points for his stoicism when faced with Oliver's idiocy.

“Thea. Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” Her brother turns his eyes on her now. Eyes so judgemental, cold and emotionless she has to suppress a shiver.

Still, she raises her chin. “Didn’t feel like it today, thought I might hang out at the pool instead.”

Before anyone can reply, their new maid, maybe-Natasha, enters the room to clear away Thea’s breakfast utensils.

However, halfway to the table, she seems to realise the appearance of another Queen family member. When she notices Oliver, she lets out a slight squeak and pauses in shock.

Thea is confused. It’s nothing new that women act loopy around Oliver and why shouldn’t that include their staff? Her brother is good looking, even she can admit that, and he has billions at his disposal, always a plus, as Thea found out for herself.

But that reaction was something else. It seemed like fear? Why would their house staff fear Oliver?

She glances at her brother. He has his eyes narrowed at who-might-be-called-Natasha.

Probably-Natasha, quickly averts her eyes and resumes her duties.

What is going on between them? Is Oliver sleeping with the house staff now?

But the gaze he has her pinned with does not have a sexual undertone.

“Natasha, can you have a tray of my usual breakfast delivered to my room?” Oliver speaks to her with an authoritative tone that she has never heard from her brother before. Is that really who easy going Ollie has become? What happened to him?

“Of course, Sir, right away, Sir.”

Sir. He seriously has her calling him Sir?

What was wrong with him? Their staff always called them by their first name, granted with either Ms or Mr in front of their name, but still.

Before Thea can confront her brother, he has already disappeared down the hall and is making his way up the stairs to his room.

With Mr. Diggle gone and Natasha off to prepare breakfast for her brother, Thea waits a few minutes and then quietly makes her way up and hides around the corner from her brother's room.

She doesn’t have to wait long until Natasha appears and softly knocks on the door.

A curt “come in”, has her open the door and enter the room. Luckily for Thea, she does not close the door behind her. So Thea sneaks closer until she is in hearing range.

“ты завтракаешь, капитан.” Thea figures Natasha must be speaking Russian, but why she would, Thea is not sure.

A closet door closes with a slam. “What did I tell you about speaking Russian in this house?” Her brother’s voice is harsh and unfeeling as he barks at the maid.

Thea shakes her head. No matter the antics her Ollie got up to, he was never mean to anyone. Whoever came back from the island is an asshole.

“You told me not too, I apologize, Kapitan.”

Kapitan. That’s twice Thea has heard that word now. What did it mean? It sounded like a title Natasha ascribed to Oliver.

“There are bandages in the bathroom bin. I want you to get rid of them without anyone noticing, understood?” Oliver’s voice was low and dangerous.

Bandages? What was Oliver up to?

Thea had enough.

She quietly waited until Natasha exited the room, a small trash can under her arm.

Throwing caution to the wind, Oliver was still her brother after all, she throws open the door to his room without warning.

Her brother immediately wheels around from where he is stood at the large window overlooking their gardens.

At seeing her brother’s chest, Thea can’t help the gasp that escapes her.

She has seen his scars once before. She spent countless hours since wondering how he got hurt to be left with such scars.

But it’s not the scars that hold her attention this time.

It’s the new wounds.

There are bruises all over his torso. She is pretty sure she can make out a footprint on his lower abdomen. On his right side is a large bandage, that might’ve been white originally, but has since taken on the color of her brother’s blood.

What happened to him?

“Thea.” His voice is as low and dangerous as it was when he was reprimanding Natasha.

Coupled with the look he levels at her, Thea takes an involuntary step backward.

Maybe just barging in on him wasn’t the best idea.

He might be her brother, but she doesn’t know this man in front of her.

Stood in front of her is a man with an aura of power and strength surrounding him. If she met someone like him on the street, she’d cross over to the other side in an attempt to avoid him, just to be on the safe side.

But he wasn’t some random guy. He was her brother. How could she be scared of her own brother?

He takes a step closer to her, a step of a predator. Instinctively, she moves a step back.

Who did she walk in on? Who is he now?

“I told you to knock last time.” Oliver is just inches away from her face now, crowding her space.

Suddenly, he closes his eyes. He seems to visibly reign himself in. As he opens them again, she feels like she is once again staring at the pretend-Ollie that he has been portraying since coming home.

She shakes her head in disbelief.

“That, just then, that was the real you, wasn’t it?” Seeing this mockery of Ollie that he is portraying, she is suddenly furious beyond control.

“Stop pretending that you are him. You are clearly not.”

Oliver slowly blinks as if confused. “Him? What are you talking about Thea?”

Oh, he was pretty good, Thea had to give it to him. He sounded just as clueless as Ollie often did. But she has seen the cracks for weeks now, the ones that make it clear it is just a façade.

And that person that he clearly was a minute ago, confirmed it for her irrevocably.

There was no Ollie left and the man that returned to them just pretended that Ollie still existed.

“You know exactly what I mean. You are not Ollie, at least not anymore. So stop pretending to be.”

She can see it in his eyes, when he realizes that he irrevocably messed up when he did not have his walls up as soon as Thea barged into the room.

The look in his eyes takes on a new quality now. It’s not the look of easy-going pretend-Ollie. But neither is it the look of a predator.

Instead, if Thea had to label it, she’d call it a look of tiredness.

Is she finally seeing the true emotions of the person that is her brother now?

As quickly as it came, the fight in Thea leaves.

All she wants is to reconnect with the person she loved more than anyone else in the world, to see if they can still find a way to fit in with each other.

“Ollie.” He tried to mask it, but she can see the minuscule flinch, so she restarts. “Oliver. I don’t need you to be the old Ollie. What I need, is for you to show me who you are now and to not pretend that you are still your old self.”

The laugh that bubbles out of her brother is dark and humorless.

“When I returned, I really thought I could pull it off. Pretend to be him. For all of you.”

He runs his hand through his hair and sighs. There is that tiredness again, clearly audible this time.

“It worked on everyone.”

There is a slight pause, before he continues.

”Except you.”

This time, when he catches her eyes, his eyes are softer. He looks like he wants to add something, but he makes no move to speak any further.

So Thea tries to meet him halfway. “Oliver, I want to get to know the new you, but you are just not letting anyone in.”

Swallowing, Thea figures she’ll lay all her cards on the table. “And frankly, that guy who just talked to Natasha, he has me terrified. Now you stand here, in front of me, covered in blood and bruises. What am I supposed to think?”

Oliver looks at her and Thea thinks he looks shocked.

“Terrified? You are terrified of me?”

All of a sudden he does sound just like Ollie.

But was that an act again?

A cover up for the predator that she has clearly seen just a few minutes before?

Oliver reaches out to her and Thea can't suppress the flinch that involuntarily races through her body.

There is a look of hurt on Oliver’s face now, but also something that seems like grim acceptance.

Slowly, he withdraws his hand.

“I’m sorry.” His voice sounds broken now.

Is he still acting?

Thea doesn’t know.

He spins around and walks to his bed, where he picks up a T-Shirt and quickly pulls it on.

Thea has no idea how he can move so swiftly and without wincing, considering all the bruises she sees on his torso.

When he turns back to face her, his expression is earnest. At least Thea thinks so.

“The reason I’m pretending to still be the old Ollie..” He stops, as if unsure of how to continue.

Thea stares at him, still trying to determine how honest he is being right now.

“When I was on the island, there were things I had to do to survive..”

Thea holds her breath, is he finally opening up or just play-acting enough so she lets it go?

“Those things broke something inside of me and I never wanted any of you to see that.”

Oliver takes a deep breath.

“But the thought that you are terrified of me..that’s the last thing I ever want, Speedy.”

He slowly takes a step closer to her, carefully observing her reaction.

He truly seems shaken by what she admitted.

“Speedy, you are my baby sister and there isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do to protect you.”

Another step closer. Thea stands her ground, still trying to determine how honest he is being.

“And by anything, I mean literally anything..”

A pause. She sees yet another version of him, as dangerous as he seemed earlier, except now she does not feel this danger with regards to her.

“I would kill for you, Thea, to keep you safe.”

He holds her stare and Thea can read the truth in his eyes.

Her brother really would kill for her.

The old Ollie wouldn’t have hurt a fly. But with what she has witnessed and this determination in his gaze, she realizes with a shock that Oliver’s words weren’t just empty.

He really would kill for her.

She swallows heavily.

“And this darkness in me. That is something that I never wanted you to know about, Thea.”

Slowly, carefully and deliberately, he lifts his hand until he is cupping her cheek, suddenly he is so gentle.

“I promise you, Thea, you never have to be scared of me.”

Thea swallows heavily.

“But others have to be.”

She voices what he didn’t.

She sees it in his eyes even though he doesn’t otherwise confirm or deny her assertion.

Can she live with her brother having such views?

Gently, she covers his large hand with her much smaller one. He is her big brother, ten years older, he of course always has been so much larger than her.

But now she is fully grown herself and he is still so much larger. His large frame could so easily wrap around her. Hurt her. But also protect her.

And standing there, in his bedroom with the morning sunlight streaming in, she feels for the first time that she gets a glimpse of her brother again. The brother who has always protected her.

And that hasn’t changed and it never will.

Although it is crystal clear that he is a lot more dangerous now and would walk paths he had never considered before.

But he is still that brother who will always keep her safe.

She finally feels connected to him again.

So she wraps him in a hug.

There are a few tense moments when Oliver remains coiled up and wound tight as she hugs him. But finally, with a sigh of relief on her part, she can feel his warm strong arms wrap around her in turn.

As they stand there, holding each other, Thea is slowly able to reconcile the old Ollie, the pretend version of him as well as the predator she saw earlier and together they form the picture of the brother she is holding in her arms.

She still has so many questions. But they could wait until later.

It feels as if he has finally come home. To her.

From hereon, they would walk this path together. The way they always had, for as long as she can remember. She would be here for him, just like he was always there for her.


End file.
